"Hi there,
I am Dana
Larsen, the author of the article you linked to about Popeye’s
spinach being a metaphor for marijuana. I saw the reply you
posted from Bobby London, denying that there was any connection
between spinach and cannabis. Of course, he is not the creator
of Popeye and there’s no reason he would have any more
insight into the thought processes of Popeye creator Segar than
anyone else.I thought your readers might like to see this Popeye
cover (at right) from October 1939, drawn by Joseph Musial.
I only came across this cover recently, after I had written
the original article posted on Alternet. The comic cover shows
Popeye lounging among pillows in an Arabian sort of tent, smoking
out of a hookah labelled “Spinach.”This cover illustration
shows that, to at least some people involved in the early formation
of the Popeye comics, the spinach/marijuana connection was obvious,
and not something they were ashamed of, as King Comics put it
prominently on the cover.Thank you for your attention."

Jest a minute of your alleged 'crime'..

The recreational use of cannabis indica is only one aspect
of Hemp.

Industrially,
hemp has uses that are very relevant to climate change and ecology.
Hemp is a renewable and sustainable annual crop that can be
used for fabric, as a mop crop to absorb effluent waste, to
make paper without woodchip, and to make compressed fibre building
products without woodchip, just to mention a few. NSW is about
to allow industrial hemp crops for the production of hemp fibre.

Nutritionally, hemp oil and hempmeal
flour have been shown to contain Omega-3's and Linoleic acid
in ideal proportion. Unfortunately, unlike other countries party
to the UN convention on drugs, Australia has not put a framework
in place for hemp food products. See the ANZFA
site for the current status of hemp food products. As a result
some hemp food products are being sold in Australia as "animal
food" and have an explanation of hemp food product status
in their advertising.

Medically there are a range of
conditions and treatment side-effects that cannabis can give
relief to, but our conservative pollies want to throw the babies
out with the bathwater rather than contemplate or tolerate the
thought.

Legally, some states will now convict
you of "Driving with the presence of an illicit drug"
if you are found to have cannabis metabolites in your system.
There is no issue of "impairment". It does not matter
if your driving is unaffected.

Politically we are back in the position
of the Nineteen Thirties, facing a barrage of false and misleading
information and media type-casting. It is a back foot position
in a world whose politicians are increasingly obsessed by control
issues.

Ironically prohibition creates more harms than benefits. We
do not believe their disinformation. We would even call for
the re-introduction of open government.

Seriously, join us once again for the anti-prohibition tango
in May, where we harmlessly and non-violently stand up for what
we do believe, and while we are at it, have a lot of light hearted
fun.

Since 1984, some people have observed Bicycle Day on April
19th. This is the anniversary of the day that Albert Hofmann
intentionally took LSD in 1943. On the 16th Hofmann accidentally
absorbed a bit of LSD, but the 19th was the first intentional
experience, when he took what he then considered a minimum effective
dose, 250 mics. In LSD, My Problem Child he records that day:
By now it was already clear to me that LSD had been the cause
of the remarkable experience of the previous Friday, for the
altered perceptions were of the same type as before, only much
more intense. I had to struggle to speak intelligibly. I asked
my laboratory assistant, who was informed of the self-experiment,
to escort me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile being available
because of wartime restrictions on their use. On the way home,
my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in
my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a
curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move
from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me we had
traveled very rapidly.
In this dark hour of ignorance and superstition about psychedelics,
you can light a candle of hope and reason. To commemorate the
bicycle ride that changed the world forever, let's celebrate
Bicycle Day with bicycle trips, sending cards with bicycle pictures
on them to friends, joyful picnics, and other festive activities.
Remember Bicycle Day and Keep it Holy

The main
page of the MardiGrass site, as it was during MardiGrass
2007.